Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 132:18
His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.
18. will I clothe with shame ] The opposite of salvation, Psa 132:16. Cp. Psa 35:26; Job 8:22.
upon himself ] Upon David in the person of his representative, who is called David in Eze 34:23-24.
shall his crown flourish ] The expression is a peculiar one. (1) The word for ‘crown’ ( nzer) used here as in Psa 89:39, means ( a) ‘consecration,’ ( b) ‘a crown’ or ‘diadem,’ as the mark of consecration to an office. It is used not only of a king’s crown, but of the high-priest’s diadem (Exo 29:6). (2) The verb ytsts, ‘flourish,’ or rather ‘sparkle,’ ‘glitter,’ is cognate to the word tsts, which denotes the glittering plate of gold bearing the inscription “Holiness to Jehovah” which the High-priest wore on his turban, and which is called in Exo 29:30, “the plate of the holy diadem.” This phraseology seems intended to suggest that David’s representative will have high-priestly as well as royal dignity. Cp. Jer 30:21; Zec 6:11-13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His enemies will I clothe with shame – They shall be so confounded that shame shall seem to cover them as a garment. See the notes at Psa 109:29. That is, David would be triumphant.
But upon himself shall his crown flourish – His crown shall be as a fresh, blooming garland. The Hebrew word used here may mean either to glitter, or to flower, to fiourish or bloom. As applied to a crown, it may mean either that it would sparkle or glitter, as set with precious stones – or (under the idea of a garland) it may mean that it would appear to bloom or blossom. In either case it denotes success, joy, triumph – and is a promise of prosperity to David as a king. This was a part of the promise referred to by the psalmist, and a ground of the plea in the psalm. God had made these precious promises to David and his posterity; and now, in a time of sorrow and disaster, when the glory of the crown seemed about to pass away, the psalmist, in the name of the people, and in language to be used by the people, prays that those ancient promises might be remembered and fulfilled. So, in a time of general religious declension, we may plead the promises, so rich and so abundant, which God has made to his church, as a reason for his gracious interposition, for his coming to revive his work.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 132:18
His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon Himself shall His crown flourish.
The Redeemers glory, and the confusion of His enemies
I. The confusion of His enemies. Tis an astonishing and melancholy fact that such a government should have enemies, but evidently it is so (Psa 2:1-12.). The opposition of Jews and Gentiles only a specimen of the opposition of human nature in all ages. Describe the enemies. In individuals–pride, unbelief, self-righteousness, inconsistency. The same enmity in the world on an extended scale; carnal policy, etc., arising from inveterate hatred of religion is too humbling and too holy. Christs enemies are clothed with shame when their machinations are detected. Ariel, etc. (Milton), Gehazi. When their own plans defeat themselves. Haman, Esther, Mordecai. The cross as peopling heaven. The stone, watch, seal at Christs tomb established the fact of His resurrection. Persecution drove out the disciples to spread the Gospel.
II. The prosperity of His reign. This consists in–
1. The settled and undisturbed title to His crown.
2. When His counsels are wise, and the laws of legislation are pure, salutary, and securing to the subject his liberties and immunities.
3. When His laws are administered in prudence, firmness, and integrity. He died for the ungodly; therefore He is just and the justifier of the ungodly.
4. When His realm consists of extensive empire, when other rulers are His subjects and willingly receive His laws into their administration.
5. When His subjects are happy and united.
III. The certainty of both. (Homilist.)
A flourishing crown
Look at Melvile when standing before King James. Danger threatened the Church of Christ in that kingdom, and upon the prosperity of the Church depended the stability of James throne. Melvile and others obtained a private audience of the king, and, among other points, Melvile reminded James of his duty to his Saviour. There are two kings in Scotland, said the Covenanter, King James and King Jesus, but King Jesus reigned hero before King James, and His authority is supreme. That bold and uncompromising speech carries us back in thought to another scene equally momentous and interesting. Paul, that bold champion of his Masters cause, standing in the midst of an infuriated crowd, fearlessly told them that while Caesar had his claims to sovereign power, there was another King, one Jesus, who had His claims also, but they were superior to Caesars claims. It is recorded of the first and the greatest of the Caesars that such were his capacious powers that he could at once keep six pens racing to his dictation on as many different subjects. That may be true; but Christ can attend to the affairs of the whole world at once! Crowns have always been highly valued. What schemes to obtain them! what bloodshed! what treachery! With what pomp and pride they have been and are still worn! No crown like this! (E. Digby.)
.
Psa 133:1-3
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. His enemies will I clothe with shame] Every opponent of the Christian cause shall be confounded.
But upon himself shall his crown flourish.] There shall be no end of the government of Christ’s kingdom. From Ps 132:11-18, the spiritual David and his posterity are the subjects of which the Psalm treats.
ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND PSALM
This Psalm is divided into three parts: –
I. A petition, before which is David’s care and vow to settle the ark, and with what reverence they would settle it in the temple; and he sets down the solemn prayer then used, Ps 132:1-10.
II. An explication of the promises made unto David for the continuance of his kingdom in his posterity, Ps 132:11-12, and God’s love to his Church, Ps 132:13.
III. A prophecy, spoken in the person of God, for the stability of Christ’s Church; and the blessings upon the people, the priests, and the house of David, Ps 132:14-18.
I. In all prayer a man must reflect upon God’s promise; otherwise he cannot pray in faith.
1. “Lord, remember David:” Thy promises made to him. First he prays for the king; then for the ecclesiastics, Ps 132:8-9; then for the people, Ps 132:8.
2. “And all his afflictions:” Many he had before he was king; and one of the greatest was the settling of the ark.
Now this his ardent and sincere desire appears by his oath. And now, –
1. “How he sware unto the Lord,” c.
2. The substance of which was, “Surely I will not come,” &c.
Now this is hyperbolical for we must not conceive that he went not into his house or bed till he found out a place to build God’s house. But see the note.
1. “I will not come into – my house:” So as to forget to build God’s house.
2. “Nor go up into my bed:” Or let any thing make me forget the work.
3. “I will not give sleep,” c.: But make provision for building the temple.
And here the prophet inserts two verses by way of gratitude.
First, he exults for the news of the ark: “Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah,” &c.
By Ephratah some understand the land of Ephraim, in which the ark remained at Shiloh. Being afterwards sent home, it was found in the field of Joshua thence conveyed to the house of Amminadab, who dwelt in Kirjath-jearim, that signifies a woody city. Hence, David might well say, “And found it in the fields of the wood,” c.
And the place for the ark being found, he calls on Israel, saying,
1. “We will go into his tabernacles.” Now the ark is rested in Mount Zion.
2. “And we will worship,” &c. Not make rash approaches to the ark, but come with reverence, and bow in his presence.
The ark being brought into the temple, he uses this solemn form: –
1. “Arise, O Lord,” &c. He prays and invites him to dwell in his temple.
2. “Into thy rest.” To pass no more from place to place.
3. “Thou, and the ark of thy strength.” Show thy power and strength, as thou didst at Jordan, &c.
Before the ark in the temple he prays, –
1. “Let thy priests be clothed,” &c. Inwardly, in heart and soul.
2. “Let thy saints shout,” &c. With a cheerful voice, for the ark rests.
3. “For thy servant David’s sake,” &c. 1. David is not here to be taken absolutely for his person only, as having the covenants and promises made to him, but for the promise’ sake. 2. “Turn not away,” &c. Suffer me not to depart from thy presence unheard.
II. The prophet now proceeds to count up the promises made to David, which God confirmed by oath, in which we are to observe, 1. The manner of the promise: “The Lord hath sworn in truth,” &c. It was merciful to promise but more so to bind himself by oath. 2. The matter of his oath expressed Ps 132:11-14.
1. For the seed of David, as respects Christ, is categorical and absolute: “Of the fruit of thy body,” c. Which word St. Peter refers to Christ, Ac 2:30. According to the flesh he was David’s seed for by the mother’s side Christ was to be David’s seed, not by the father’s.
2. For the seed of David, as it relates to his posterity, the oath is hypothetical and conditional: “If thy children will keep,” &c.
As the external kingdom was by this oath annexed to one family, so the external worship was assigned by it to one place.
1. “For the Lord hath chosen Zion,” &c.
2. “This is my rest for ever.” Zion was the seat of the sanctuary till the coming of the Messiah. But Zion was but a type of Christ’s Church, which he hath chosen to be his rest for ever.
III. The prophet represents God as promising good things to his Church.
1. Such abundance of temporal things that the poor shall not want: “I will abundantly bless her provision,” &c.
2. That her “priests shall be clothed with salvation,” &c.
3. “There will I make the horn of David to flourish,” &c. That is, the kingdom of the Messiah.
4. The fourth benefit God promises is the confusion of their enemies, and the eternal authority in this kingdom: “His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Clothe with shame; for the shameful and unexpected disappointment of all their vain hopes and wicked designs.
Upon himself; upon him and his posterity, which are nothing else but a mans self multiplied.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14-18. That choice is expressedin God’s words, “I will sit” or “dwell,” or sitenthroned. The joy of the people springs from the blessings of Hisgrace, conferred through the medium of the priesthood.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His enemies will I clothe with shame, With the garments of shame, as the Targum; very different from the clothing of Zion’s priests; all that are incensed against Christ as a King and Saviour shall sooner or later be ashamed; either here, when brought to a sense of their evil, to repentance for it, and faith in him; or hereafter, at the resurrection, when they will rise to shame and everlasting contempt, and when they shall see him come in the clouds of heaven, in power and great glory, to judge the world in righteousness, Isa 45:24;
but upon himself shall his crown flourish; being crowned with glory and honour, as he now is at the right hand of God, he reigns, and will reign, till all his enemies become his footstool; his throne is for ever and ever, and his kingdom an everlasting one; and will be very flourishing in the latter day, when his subjects shall be many, and when there shall be an abundance of peace and prosperity, and of that no end; the crown of the Messiah shall flourish on him as a king, shine out and be very conspicuous, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret the word used; and so his crown as a priest; the same word is used of the holy crown of the priests put upon the mitre, on which Holiness to the Lord was inscribed; and the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, render it, “my holiness”; and, as his own crown is a never-fading one, such an one he will give to his ministers, and all that love him appearing, 1Pe 5:4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18. His enemies will I clothe with shame. The priests were said above “to be clothed with righteousness and salvation,” now the enemies of David are represented as “clothed with shame.” It is not enough that all go well within. God must keep us from the various harms and evils which come upon us from without, and hence we have this second promise added, which is one wherein we recognize often the goodness of God even more than in the blessings which he may shower upon us in the day of prosperity. The greater that fear which seizes upon us when exposed to aggression from enemies, the more are we sensibly awakened to take hold of divine help. The passage teaches us that the Church and people of God will never enjoy such peace on earth as altogether to escape being assaulted by the variety of enemies which Satan stirs up for their destruction. It is enough to have it declared, upon divine authority, that their attempts shall be unsuccessful, and that they will retire eventually with ignominy and disgrace. The, clause which follows has been variously interpreted. The verb which we have translated to flourish, in the Hiphil conjugation means sometimes to see, so that some have explained the words In that place shall the crown of David be seen, when the horn shall have been made to bud. Some derive the word from ציף , tsits, a plate, as if it had been said that the crown of the king would be resplendent with plates of gold. But I consider that the crown is here said to flourish, just as formerly the allusion was to budding or germinating. Isaiah, on the other hand, speaks (Isa 28:5) of the crown of drunkenness of Ephraim as being a fading flower. Thus we have it here declared that however frail to appearance the crown of David might be in his posterity, it would be invigorated by some secret virtue, and flourish for ever.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) Crown (nezer).As the distinctive use of this word in Israelby its derivation meaning mark of separationwas for the golden plate, inscribed Holiness to the Lord, worn on the high priests mitre (see Exo. 29:6; Exo. 39:30), we cannot be wrong in seeing here a special allusion to the same. This allusion is rendered more probable by the use of the word rendered flourish (properly, shine), a cognate to which was the technical name given to this golden plate. (See the reference in Exodus 39, above.) It is also possibly alluded to in Psa. 89:39, the only other place in the psalms where the word occurs, though as the word is used of the royal crown in 2Sa. 1:10, &c, the allusion is not certain. But if the Maccaban hypothesis is correct, the use of the word, instead of the more usual word for crown, is interesting. One relic of the ancient insignia has been preserved, which was probably prized as the most precious of all. It was the golden plate affixed to the turban, inscribed Holiness to Jehovah, which was believed to have come down from the time of Aaron, and which, treasured through all the vicissitudes of the Jewish state, was carried to Rome by Titus, and seen there by the great Jewish Rabbi, in the time of Hadrian (Stanley, J. C. 3:353).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Clothe with shame Contrasted with the clothing of the priests. Psa 132:16.
Upon himself A clear indication that David was living at the writing of this psalm, and consequently that it was not written after the exile, as some suppose; for after that period no literal heir of David ever sat upon his throne. But the language in any case is highly spiritual and Messianic.
Shall his crown flourish His crown shall put forth blossoms, as the original denotes. This brings forward the figure of Psa 132:17: his horn shall “bud.” Perpetual life, vigour, and beauty shall adorn his reign.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
STAND still, my soul! and behold Jesus as the ark, the habitation, the – Sanctuary, the refuge, the, resting-place for poor sinners, which the Lord Jehovah hath founded, and not man. Look at Jesus, even at thy Jesus, in everyone of those characters. What a sure dwelling-place is Jesus for all his redeemed! May we not cry out, in the view of Him; nay, are we not constrained so to do; Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations! And is He not the hiding-place also to his redeemed, when they are hidden in the secret and mysterious union with his person, and interested in his righteousness? My soul, wilt thou not say, under this view, Surely my life is hid with Christ in God, that when Christ, who is my life shall appear, then shall I appear with him in glory! And is not Jesus the resting place for every poor weary sinner, tired with the burden of his sins, and of all his own fruitless endeavours to take that burden off, until Jesus, the mighty burden bearer, is beheld bearing our sins in his own body on the tree? Yes! Lord, here also I would say, Thou art the rest wherewith Jehovah causeth the weary to rest, and thou art the refreshing! Arise, Lord, into thy rest, would my soul humbly pray, thou and the Ark, the Jesus, of thy great strength. Clothe thy priests with the robe of Jesus’s righteousness, and let every redeemed heart of thy saints shout with joy. Thou wilt bless, yea, thou wilt abundantly bless with all spiritual provision, their souls upon earth, as thou art feeding them now in glory, in the midst of the throne, with eternal food. Thine enemies, Lord, shall be eternally ashamed; but Jesus shall reign, and reign forever. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 132:18 His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.
Ver. 18. His enemies will I clothe with shame ] Shame shall be the promotion of all such fools as set against Christ and his people; yea, they shall be clothed with it; so that it shall be conspicuous to all men.
But upon himself shall his crown flourish
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
his crown: i.e. his royal crown.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
His enemies: Psa 21:8, Psa 21:9, Psa 35:26, Psa 109:29, Job 8:22, Dan 12:2
but upon: Psa 72:8-11, Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Isa 58:10-12, Mat 28:18, Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33, Rev 11:15, Rev 17:14
Reciprocal: Gen 49:26 – they shall Num 17:8 – budded 2Sa 3:18 – By the hand 2Sa 6:15 – David 2Ki 11:12 – put the crown 2Ch 23:11 – put upon 2Ch 32:21 – with shame Psa 6:10 – Let all Psa 16:5 – thou Psa 25:3 – let Psa 44:7 – put them Psa 71:13 – covered Psa 89:23 – plague Psa 109:19 – as the garment Pro 3:35 – but Pro 12:8 – he Isa 10:27 – because Jer 43:12 – putteth Eze 26:16 – clothe Oba 1:10 – shame Luk 1:69 – an Luk 13:17 – all his Heb 1:13 – until